IMPOVERISHED pensioners are stealing to survive the recession, it is claimed, and are ready to risk jail as dwindling pensions and soaring prices put them on the breadline.

Since the economic downturn began in 2008, thousands of elderly people have been prosecuted for theft.

Shoplifters as old as 89 have been caught and even in the genteel ­Cotswolds police say that over-75s are causing a mini crime wave.

Neil Duncan-Jordan of the National Pensioners Convention said: “When times are tough people make desperate decisions because they feel they have no alternatives.

“Pensioners should not be scared to seek help; better that than risk a ­criminal record so late on in life.”

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the number of shop­lifting offences in England and Wales in the 12 months to June 2013 was 307,652; an increase of 3,000 on the ­previous 12 months.

That data is not broken down into age but answers to Freedom of Information requests show that in the past five years almost 150 pensioners aged 70 and above have been prosecuted for shoplifting in Derbyshire.

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Last year there were 32 prosecutions while in 2012 there were 34, more than double the 14 pensioners police cautioned or put through the courts in 2009-10.

Among those arrested for stealing were two people aged 89, two aged 88, three aged 87 and two aged 86.

Age UK Derby and Derbyshire chief executive Katy Pugh warned that some of those prosecuted might be suffering from dementia but not ­receiving the help they need.

In Lancashire, more than 200 people aged 75 and over have been detained over the past three years. Derek ­Barton of the North West Pensioners group said: “A crime is a crime and that is what most people of my generation were brought up to believe.

“However, there are economic circumstances and there have been reports of an increase in people shoplifting food.”

In London, elderly thieves have ­targeted charity shops. Giuseppe Romano, who runs the North London Hospice shop in Wood Green, said thieves, some in their 80s, were costing his store £3,000 a year.

He said: “All of the good and expensive stuff which is not sold in the first few days of it being out is stolen by ­shoplifters.

“I have spoken to other charity shops and they all have the same problem.”

In Gloucestershire pensioners committed 19 offences in 2013, ranging from shoplifting to ­violent crime and in the Cotswolds, 11 offences, mostly thefts, were committed by over-75s.

Gloucestershire Police spokesman Chris Jackson said: “It is perhaps inevitable that in areas with an older population we see more crimes by those in their later years.”

Last month, Peter Cooper, 70, admitted trying to steal £204.58 worth of shopping from a Morrisons supermarket in Malvern, Worcestershire, and was given a nine-month community order.